Disciplined Leadership
Monastics are the religious leaders of Hinduism. Continuing this noble renunciate monastic tradition is essential for the perpetuation of the faith. Therefore, when a young boy expresses the desire to become a monk, parents should never discourage that inclination, but strongly encourage it in all ways. It is a great blessing for the family to have a son become a sannyāsin. Each father should guide his sons who express an inclination toward monastic life into learning more of sannyāsa by teaching them of the lives of great yogīs and swāmīs, encouraging them in the arts of meditation, haṭha yoga and personal purity, having them read and study the Vedas, and bringing them to receive the darśana and advice of the satguru and swāmīs whenever possible. They regard any son destined for the monastery not as their own child, but as the satguru’s spiritual progeny in their trusted care. They work closely with the satguru in guiding his training so as to cultivate skills and character traits that will enhance his future as a monastic. Many devout families seek to birth a son for the monastery. Prior to conception, they mix with the swāmīs and pray to the Gods to bring through a soul destined to perpetuate the holy lineage.
Once a brahmachārī has entered the monastery under vows, he is a very special person living a very special life. He should be treated by everyone, including his own family, as a holy person. He now stands apart from family and former friends. Parents when visiting respect his chosen path and keep family problems from his knowledge. They exclude him from news of marriages, divorces, illness, deaths and other householder events. They should show great interest in what he is learning and speak of high philosophical matters.
A life of discipline is not an easy life, but it is a joyous one, with many soul-satisfying rewards. Monastics follow their rigorous twenty-four-hour protocol even in their dreams. Those who are born to perform this service are to be respected and not distracted by family pulls or the desires of former friends. They should be tested, yes, in their beginning years, to be assured that their commitment is firm, their energies secure and their loyalties well understood. Traditionally, at this time family and friends play an important role by bringing temptations to them and valid reasons why they should renounce renunciation. But when their robes turn to yellow or when in white the rudrāksha beads are worn, their path is clear and a new protocol on both sides must be firmly kept. All relationships have now changed.
The power of brahmacharya makes the monks very magnetic, and the temples they serve in powerful. Monastics are therefore careful to keep their distance and not become involved with devotees who attend the temples. In turn, the cultured devotees keep a respectful distance from the monks—physically, emotionally and psychically, not even thinking of them, let alone psychically pulling on them, even in their dreams. Nothing should happen to distract a monk from his chosen path. This code of nonintervention is even more strict for the monk’s parents, who share in his renunciation of worldly life for the life of selfless service to the Sanātana Dharma.
NANDINATHA SŪTRA 333: SUPPORTING HINDU PRIESTS AND PANDITS
Śiva’s monastics honor and support the good causes of Hindu lay ministers, priests and pandits of all lineages to create a dynamic solidarity in diversity to carry Sanātana Dharma to each succeeding generation. Aum.